Nóirín O'Sullivan said members had felt under attack due to a negative focus on specific members and the force as a whole.

Speaking at the announcement of a major building and refurbishment programme for garda stations, Ms O'Sullivan said the news, along with renewed recruitment and the new investment in vehicles for the force was a badly needed boost to garda morale.

Some €60m in funding from the Department of Justice and the OPW will rebuild and renovate 30 garda stations around the country.

"There is no doubt about it that over the last couple of years, members of An Garda Síochána have felt pilloried, pilloried by a lot of negative commentary in relation to members of An Garda Síochána and An Garda Síochána as a whole, so there's a huge job of work that had to be done to actually reinvigorate and boost morale," she said.

She added that gardaí around the country had voiced the same concerns about a lack of manpower, and lack of investment in the fleet and in technology.